1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the field of semiconductors and, more particularly, to approaches for using a low resistivity metal (e.g., tungsten (W)) in a recessed gate structure for semiconductor devices such as planar or FinFET devices.
2. Related Art
Along with other metals, Tungsten (W) is actively being explored as a possibly gate metal. In general, replacement metal gates (RMGs) are attractive due to superior T(inv)-V(t) performance. One approach is to attempt to provide a recessed gate structure. However, forming a W recess is currently an expensive process, as the process typically involves chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and a reaction ion etch (RIE) chamber for W etching. For example, a typical approach may include a series of expensive and/or time-consuming deposition processes, CMP processes, and RIE processes. Moreover, existing techniques typically recess liner layers and gate metals evenly, which results in reduced metal contact and increased resistance. Still yet, the current approaches result gate lengths and contact sizes being of such a nature so as to increase resistance. Specifically, existing approaches rely on additional layers such as TiN and nucleation layers, which increase resistance.